Top tips for Craig Dre

I didn't spot Craig Dre in the room at the IfG's seminar on No10 communications earlier – Nick Robinson chaired a panel made up of Jonathan Powell, Howell James and Tom Kelly – but he can always listen to the podcast on his headphones. If he has time Mr Oliver might have a useful coffee with Tom and Howell, two wise birds who are at ease in the place where Whitehall, Westminster and the Lobby collide. They had some handy tips for the new Downing Street communications guy. Tom's were: be in the room; don't be late for the convoy; be aware there are photographers in Downing Street; use your influence across Whitehall; get ahead of the curve. Howell had one key tip: make sure you have a robust process for dealing with issues that are just beyond the horizon. Jonathan Powell had some suggestions as well, the main being 'death to the Lobby', but also deal with pr0blem SpAds, you don't want any more McBrides or Balls dripping poison, and don't let the PM go to the back of the plane.

Tom also had a useful insight into one of the great difficulties confronting Mr Cameron. The PM began by wanting to let Cabinet ministers and their departments have greater autonomy. The control freakery of the the Labour era was to end. Now that is being wound back. The PM has taken to dissing his Cabinet colleagues, in private and in public, when he believes they have failed him. And as I suggested yesterday Craig Dre is about to go through the SpAds with a scythe. But here's what Mr Kelly says: "It's all very well saying departments should do their own thing but in the end everything comes through the front and back doors of No10 and there is no alternative to a strong grip from the centre." Mr Powell thought No10 showed signs of suffering from ADD. Howell cautioned the Coalition to underestimate the power of NI, Associated and TMG 'at their peril'.

PS On a separate issue, Mr Powell blamed the Met for Tony Blair's travails over cash for peerages. "The police kept planting stories in the newspapers," he said. "I don't hold the media to blame for it, I hold the police to blame." But Mr James picked him up on it: "The police were only doing what the politicians taught them to do. They watched New Labour and thought this was how you do it."